Thursday, August 11, 2005

The Rape and Ruin of a Country

Often people ask me why I loathe the Communists so much. My father actually believes that I am irrational in my hatred towards them. My Leftist friends feel that I am too much of a Capitalist and too rabid in my beliefs to appreciate the “spirit of Communism” as they like to phrase it. A recent debate I had with one such friend actually made me wonder if the Communists were indeed as bad as I thought them to be. I still felt they were loathsome creatures, but was wondering if the degree to which I loathed them was perhaps a tad more than was warranted by the facts.

Two events in the past month or so have firmly convinced me though, that you can’t loathe an Indian Communist enough. Their barbarism, narrow-mindedness, sheer stupidity, hypocrisy and diabolism defy belief. And they should just be exterminated – one and all. It will really be the best thing that could ever happen to this country.

As a foundation, let me just cite a few things I really hate about the Communists in India:

The very concept of Communists who say that they want a “free and fair democratic process” is contemptible as it runs totally contrary to Communism. So, this in itself is enough of a reason to ban them forever from elections.

Their attempts to tamper with Indian history texts are despicable. As an example, they actually cite Lenin and Stalin as key figures in the Indian Independence struggle. Their dominance of the Academic circuits (blame the Congress for this) aids them and their friends in the Congress conveniently turn a blind eye to all this every time.

During the Indo-China War, the Communists openly declared that they supported China and not India in the war. An act of treason, if there ever was one.

Commies are the ones that have always tried to restrict economic freedom and reforms. Labour reforms have been the crying need for years…..Who is to blame for the non-implementation? Yep, the Left.

I can’t stand the idea of seeing these supposed “Communists” feasting on the fat of the land while advocating stupid Communist philosophies to a democratic country, as part of a democratic system. They are rolling in money, something that absolves their right to call themselves Communists.

I could go on forever, but let’s look at the two events I mentioned and the thoughts that came to my mind from them.

First up, the floods in Bombay. While the thoughts of most people have been of prayers for the victims and of marvel at the powers of Nature, mine have been of sheer rage. It is preposterous that such a thing should have occurred. As a Bombayite, I know fully well about the pathetic state of the drainage system there. It has not been upgraded since the 1960s, since which time the population has grown manifold. But does one just blame the Municipal Authorities? Let’s look a little deeper. What’s caused this scenario? Why is Bombay’s infrastructure so pathetically inadequate? After all, it’s not just the drainage – it’s the roads, the trains, everything. Bombay is bursting at the seams…..

McKinsey in association with Bombay First conducted a survey in 2002. The survey revealed that the economic activity within Bombay alone yields, at a conservative estimate, slightly over 5% of India’s GDP. This is a huge amount, specially when one considers that this figure does not include the yields of activities that happen outside Bombay but are controlled by corporates with their offices in Bombay. A very, very conservative estimate of the taxes paid from Bombay for this economic activity alone yielded the result that at least 15% of all taxes the government receives come from Bombay. As per McKinsey, for 2004, a conservative estimate would be that INR 55,000 crores was paid by Bombay in the form of taxes.

The sum total of all amounts that are pumped in to Bombay stands at a woeful INR 3,000 crores. This includes, Central, State and Municipal Corporation spends. The city is cheated out of over 50,000 crores every year. Mind you, I am not asking for the entire 55,000 crores to be returned to the city. I fully realise the need to develop other areas that would otherwise die. But, the magnitude of the disparity is shocking…..as is the thought of Bombay having to make do with the pittance that is 3,000 crores. And what do we owe this to? The blasted Communists and Socialists and their theory of the rich subsidising the poor. And who are we Bombayites subsidising? The rich Punjabi farmer who drives around in a Mercedes and pays no water or electricity bills? Or do we subsidise the personal fortunes of the assorted Commies, the Laloos of the land and the trade unions they back?

That brings us very neatly onto the second recent event that highlights the Communists’ great contribution to Indian society. The labour unrest at the HMSI factory in Gurgaon. What was that about? That was about the Communists trying to widen their footprint in India outside WB and Kerala, with the shelter provided to them by the fact that they are the main backers of Sonia Gandhi Inc. HMSI is a factory that is doing phenomenally well, is paying well and is based in a place (Gurgaon) with no history of labour union unrests and agitations.

But the very well-being of HMSI makes it a ripe fruit in the eyes of the Commies. They started a labour union and tried to get it registered.HMSI refused. A slight digression here. For those that do not know it, the Japanese are renowned for their labour-friendliness. The enduring success of mega-corporations like Sony, Sharp, Toyota and Honda is based on the fact that these companies believe in “life-time employment” and have a “family-like” atmosphere in the company. They truly try to make their workers feel like it is one big family. So, please look at the situation in this light.

When HMSI refused to recognise the union, the labourers started their noisy WB-like, typically Communist protest, something that had never been seen in Gurgaon before. The rest is something known to all of us…..and seen by all of us in those images on TV. But, has the Government moved against the union? Nope. They move instead against the policemen involved. Why? Simple, the union represents the Left….and the Left is part of Sonia Gandhi Inc……who would touch them?

The ramifications and outcome of this unrest could be crippling for Gurgaon. It has been the only city North of Bombay that was seen as a suitable place to invest in my corporates, Indian and foreign alike. Now, in the Japanese Ambassador’s words, “firms will ask, if this is a place worth investing in. Indeed they will ask if India, and not China, is worth investing in.” If such instances are repeated and the Communists are not stopped by the powers-that-be, this would indeed be the price that we would pay for having fostered the treacherous Communists for so many years.

I do realise that although a genocide of the Communists and their supporters is the need of the hour, it is not very easy to implement. I hope though, that better sense will finally dawn on our populace and these b***ards will be booted into the dustbin of history. Then again, perhaps I should know better than to expect……

Like any adult, I do not carry disputes from the sports fields into other fields of life. So, there is nothing about "me not wanting to see your name here" or anything. Anyway, getting down to what you said, I did go through the webpage you have mentioned.

I do not see anything in that page that even remotely differs from my opinion that the Indian Communists should be exterminated. Indeed, at one point it mentions that the Marxist strategy for India is "Make India a colony of China". I had refrained from mentioning the fact that the Marxists officially said during the Indo-China War (I think Jyoti Basu was the one that said this), that India would be better off under Chinese rule!!!!!!

You still think I have the Marxists wrong? The Indian Communists' pseudo-secularism and blatant flouting of Communist principles (which prohibit following of religion - IMHO a great idea) in their daily life as well as political dealings, is something I consciously left out.

Yeah, I have read that. But then, the entire History of India has been distorted to a point where even most Indians don't have a clue about what is right and what is not. The way things are going, in another twenty years time, our texts will also tell us how Lokmanya Tilak was a British spy and how Bhagat Singh was actually the person who ordered the British troops to fire in Jallianwala......

Ah! finally something which I have a different opinion on...nah not with the excoriation of the "Indian Marxists" or anything. It is just a minor,irrelevant issue here.It is basically about "communism" or(shld I say Marxism?) itself. Not wanting to plow down the cliched path of "how communism is noble blah blah" cant help saying that of all the political systems that ahs bene in vogue so far Marxism goes by a long way in granting equal opportunity to those who by happenstance are born into a family which cannot provide them the basic amenities. Mike am sure you would hate the idea of predestination and preordained life. Maane anything fatalistic or deterministic doesnt make sense. And life to most of the people born are deterministic. Not determined by a holy figure in the sky but due to economic reasons. What kind of opportunity can you sure to the yet unborn child of a parent living under the poverty line? Prima facie this might sound ridiculous arguing for a thing which doesnt exist(technically) as of now but think about it am sure you will get my point...."WE" were lucky...shrugging the shoulder philosophically and saying "Cest la vie!" and upholding capitalism would work..for "us" but in a larger perspective it is severely flawed.

Sorry, but I must correct you. If you are familiar with the various systems prevalent in the world, you will realise that no system ignores the people below the poverty line. That is why you have Social Security etc. And I have at no point objected to the government collecting taxes and using it to develop places and help the underprevileged. I have only questioned the amount by which Bombay is subsidising the rest of the country.

The US and the UK are capitalistic economies. But having a capitalistic economy does not mean that there is no social agenda. In fact, that is the main purpose of governments in capitalistic economies. I believe what you are advocating is a tinge of socialism in trying to ensure equal opportunity. Fair enough. But that is not Communism's domain. Communism in fact is the worst even in this field. For it denies merit and treats all alike. It therefore promotes mediocrity and encourages it. One needs only to look at the great Indian socialistic sector (state-owned enterprises) to see the proof of this fact.

In sum then, I would say that you have the right idea but to say that Communism gives it to us and Capitalism denies it, would be totally incorrect.....

Oh and by the way, howcome then, there are many times more people below the poverty line in socialist and Communist States than in the Capitalist ones???? I know, there's a lot more to this than just the structure of the economy (like history etc.) but one just can not discount this factor. The erstwhile W. and E. Germany is a good example of this......

I think we can squarely hoist the responsibility of India's current state with regards to the economy on the shoulders of these commie bastards....the closed economy they insisted on, the mafia they run in the name of unions in which the low-end worker is still exploited and other sins that need not be chronicled...

And that its a dying philosophy in India can be seen by the fact that WB itself is tottering towards a 'hidden' capitalistic agenda in its approach. Kerala has the potential to be an economic superpower, but has lagged behind due to archaic social and political overtures. The remnants of an anachronistic socialistic mindset continues to haunt the state, where the policy of the Left seems to be to stall anything even distinctly progressive. I was left flabbergasted reading the insane attitude of the party towards the infusion of technology in kerala. In the 1960's they protested against the use of tractor in farming as they claimed that it would lead to loss of job and was thus a 'capitalist's' ploy to exploit labour and accrue profit.So beat that...:)